LAKE COUNTY >> Welcome to Part Two of Tales of the Weird, Clear Lake edition, where the lines between myth and mystery, science and science fiction are blurry.

Some of these tales may seem like fantasy but all have been documented. It’s up to the reader to decide what to believe and what to discard. Keep in mind, though, that these reports come from locals who may be a friend, relative or neighbor. Do not dismiss them easily.

Now, be warned, if you have a heart condition, you may want to have your nitroglycerine pills on hand before reading any further. These are not stories for wimps.

Sightings of ghosts, lake serpents, UFOs, aliens and Bigfoot have been reported throughout the county from the present day to more than 100 years ago. Many locals have posted their stories of strangeness on the Ghosts of America website.

One Clearlake resident recalls an incident from her childhood that still “haunts” her memories today.

Years ago, while a student at Burns Valley Elementary School, a young girl named Arcelia heard other kids talking about a ghost that walked the school halls. She didn’t believe the tales until one day, she was walking down a hallway towards three friends. When Arcelia stopped, all four girls heard what sounded like the footsteps of someone walking in high heels past Arcelia but there was no one there. Were the footsteps just echoes or does a ghost of a little girl, perhaps a former student, haunt the halls of Burns Valley?

Another Clearlake resident, Steven, had a fire-related encounter with a ghost in 2015 after he found out that his modular house had been built on the site where a deaf man had died in a house fire. Since then, the spirit of the dead man has been seen walking in the area by Steven and others. How many other spirits haunt Clearlake, some perhaps of people who died tragic deaths?

This next Ghosts of America posting is about demons and comes from Steve in Clearlake. The man and his wife bought a modular house but quickly became “freaked out” when they said they saw the faces of demons in the linoleum pattern of the floor.

Steve showed the flooring to a friend who also saw the demon faces and became “bothered” by them.

One week later, Steve’s 49-year-old friend collapsed in front of the “demon” house from a sudden heart attack and died on that spot in a few minutes.

It is unclear if the couple are still living in the house or if the linoleum has been replaced or what has become of the demon faces.

But fellow Ghosts of America poster Lee said of demons, “They can and will appear anywhere and anytime they want.”

If that’s true, would it be safe to assume that the are other demons — even demons of death, like the one that killed Steve’s friend — lurking in Clearlake, in linoleum flooring and elsewhere? Have you looked closely at your flooring recently?

And then there’s a post several years ago from Todd K. who lived in Loch Lomond with his family for a short time in a house he said is haunted by three ghosts.

He starts out his post with, “OK, this may sound weird…” Not in this story, Todd K. Not in this story.

Continuing, Todd tells an incredible tale of the three ghosts — an old man, an 8-year-old boy and a “scary” woman. While the man and boy were benign, the woman was, well, scary and surrounded in dark smoke.

“She tortured me every night,” he posts. “She would try to choke me to death.”

Todd K. said many other strange things happened while they lived in the haunted house, including cups exploding while his mother held them and, once, a clock flying across a room. Also, there was always poison ivy and swarms of bees in the backyard.

Even when they finally left the house for good, the ghosts tried to pull his mother’s boyfriend out of the car, Todd K. posted. It is most likely that the Loch Lomond house was destroyed in last year’s deadly Valley Fire but if so, what happened to the ghosts? Reports are that they’re still around and scarier than ever, angry about the fire and looking for a new place -and family — to haunt.

Bigfoot and clowns

This following incident didn’t involve apparitions but possibly a big hairy creature.

In August 2002, two hunters were walking along an old camp road on their property near Dry Creek Road and Highway 29, adjacent to and north of Pine Mountain. The closest town is Middletown.

While walking, the men noticed large, strange footprint depressions they could not identify. A short time later, the two men detected a strong foul smell but not of a skunk as both had smelled skunk before, they posted online to the nonprofit group, Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization.

It was then that the two noticed a large pile of acorns, apparently gathered, sitting in the middle of he road. They also noticed that there were no oak trees nearby.

The men decided to separate by about 130 yards and continue walking when, after a few minutes they both heard a whistle and a large boulder suddenly rumbled down the hill, narrowly missing one of the hunters.

When the men returned to the top of Pine Mountain, they discussed the incident and both agreed they felt they had been followed for much of the journey back. But followed by what? A Bigfoot on Pine Mountain?

The men were uncertain until the next year when they returned to the same location where they heard an “ape-like” scream and felt that they were being watched from someone — or something — lurking in the darkness. They now believe they were stalked by Bigfoot.

In a tale that reads like a Twilight Zone script, weird things also have fallen from the sky in Lake County, particularly the nights of Sept. 2 and 11, 1857.

According to the book, “The History of Napa and Lake Counties,” by Lyman L. Palmer, a shower of candy fell on some portions of the county on those evenings. The report states, “It is said that on both of these nights there fell a shower of candy or sugar. The crystals were from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in length and the size of a goose quill. Syrup was made of it by some of the lady residents of the section.”

Was the candy dropped by a lighter-than-air ship or something more sinister? And what became of the children that ate the candy? No one knows. But there are whisperings that eating the candy changed the children, some of whose ancestors still live in the county.

Then there’s the phenomenon of scary clowns that have sprung up this year across the country and even in Lake County. Sometimes the clowns try to abduct children while other times they just stand and look scary.

Earlier this month, Lake County Magazine writer Megan Berger was sent a photo of a scary clown sighting near Safeway in the Burns Valley Mall in Clearlake. She talked to the man who sent her the photo who did not want his name used.

In an Oct. 7 posting for the online magazine, Berger quotes the man as saying he was out with friends for dinner. While walking in the plaza breezeway, the man said, “(We) got to the hallway where I just saw someone standing there…in a clown outfit. I felt a bit scared so we just had my friend snap the picture and we left.”

Was this just a random sighting or is there a conspiracy of scary clowns that has finally reached Lake County? What do they want? Are they simply pranksters or something more sinister? No one knows but to be on the safe side, the best advise may be to avoid all clowns as more reports of local sightings come in.

UFOs and ETs

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) are often found above and under bodies of water and Clear Lake is no exception, with reports going back to 1947, the year of the Roswell UFO crash.

More recently, on the nights of Aug. 13 and 14, several Lake County residents reported seeing a UFO hovering above the Clayton Fire in Lower Lake, according to a report on the Strange Lake County CA Facebook page. One eyewitness said the object moved slowly and then hovered as if observing the fire then shot up into the sky leaving a trail through the smoke. Perhaps the most chilling, blood-curdling tale of high strangeness comes from one night in 2014, when a Lucerne couple saw alien terror come from above.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, told a local UFO investigator that they saw a unidentified flying object hovering several dozen yards above a large swath of trees behind their Foothill Drive house.

As they watched, the object emitted a green light towards the ground. In a few seconds, the couple said they saw two tall insect-looking beings dressed in elaborate robes with wide shoulders slowly ascend to the UFO bathed in the green glow.

Several days later, the UFO investigator from Kelseyville interviewed the couple and walked around in the wooded area above Highway 20. He said he found a number of dead birds and small mammals, including a house cat, that appeared to have had been dissected. Several of the dead birds were missing their heads, which appeared to be surgically removed rather than ripped off.

Are these stories just tall tales, myths and legends? Perhaps.

Have no doubt, though, that Lake County is a magnet for all things unexplained, for everything otherworldly. Just ask any former member of the legendary but defunct Lake County Flying Saucer Club — if you can find one — who for years documented the paranormal side of the county, from saucers to seances…along with everything in-between and far beyond.

What are these strange lights and stranger craft that locals have been seeing for at least 100 years? Are the alien creatures seen in Lucerne benevolent, hostile or indifferent? Questions but few answers.

So the next time you go sailing on Clear Lake under a full moon or skinny dipping in one of the Blue Lakes or walking in the woods late on a moonless night, be wary, my friend. Be afraid, even. High strangeness abounds.

This is the second of a two-part story on hauntings and other strange happenings in Lake County. Part One appeared in yesterday’s edition.